Police, anti-Posco activists clash, 12 injured

Paradip (Odisha): Anti-Posco protestors clashed with the police which left 12 persons injured at a project site village in Odisha`s Jagatsinghpur district, while no land was acquired on Thursday.
The clash took place during a demonstration by anti-Posco protestors demanding withdrawal of the police force at Mangala Chak in Gobindpur village, which fell within the three kilometer radius, where prohibitory orders were clamped since the death on Saturday of three persons while allegedly making bombs.

The injured were mainly women, police sources said.

The protestors alleged that the police fired teargas shells and made a lathi-charge on them, which was denied by the police.

"There was no lathicharge. We simply chased away the people to stop them from violating prohibitory orders," Jagatsinghpur Superintendent of Police Satybrata Bhoi told reporters.

Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti president Abhay Sahu, however, claimed "About 20 people were injured in lathicharge by the police."

Women claimed that their eyes burned when the police fired teargas shells.
Meanwhile, the administration, which had resumed land acquisition on Sunday?and acquired 200 acre in the last four days, did not do so today.

"Land acquisition was not undertaken today and has been halted temporarily," District Collector S K Mallick said.

He said that construction of some roads and bridges would start very soon for connecting villages located at the project site.

CPI leader K N Ramachandran and Sarmistha Choudhury, who attended an anti-Posco meeting yesterday, have announced a `Jana Sansad` at Jantarmantar in New Delhi on March 15 to protest `forcible` land acquisition for India`s biggest FDI project.